


Married Life

by Herk



Series: The Life and Love of Mycroft Holmes [12]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-14 15:00:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9187301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Herk/pseuds/Herk
Summary: Does a marriage certificate matter all that much? Not really - it's just the next step in their relation. My and Gregory are simply right for each other and 'husband-mine' is the sexiest pet name either way.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure how many chapters this will get but unlike 'The little things' I felt this needed at least one chapter break and I might add more later...
> 
> Thanks as always to Dimar for sprinkling commas where they belong.

Greg was a policeman. He knew all about extra shifts, weird hours, and the job being temporarily more important than anything else, even his love life. He knew Mycroft would never hold a missed dinner or a week of them against him. And of course that went both ways. Mycroft had the more important job but also was incredibly, incredibly organised so actually in the long run it was more or less equal on who stood up whom, with Mycroft being slightly in the lead on skipping at the last moment - mostly thanks to Sherlock. 

 

They had moved in together. They shared a bed and a bathroom. They somehow made it work despite the world seemingly out to interfere with their relation.

 

And Greg was happy.

 

He knew that unlike a couple of his significant relationships before, this one would never end in Mycroft betraying him - not because of his husband’s lack of social skills outside of a professional setting or his absolute inability to flirt though. And while he was aware that a man like Mycroft would have a hard time finding and wooing someone simply because of the time (and other) restrictions of his job that wasn’t the point either. Mycroft Holmes - once he decided to stick with you - was terrifyingly loyal. The British Government had taken a long time to even acknowledge that he was having any feelings for a simple DI not to mention deciding to allow those feelings. Each and every step on the way had been a very conscious, well-thought-through decision and Mycroft Holmes didn’t go back on those. 

 

The only time he ever had any doubts was when Oliver had popped up again. But Mycroft had made a decision then as well. And it wasn’t as if there were a dozen more skeletons in the closet - not of that nature anyway.

 

When they had prepared and planned the wedding it was Greg who brought up a prenuptial agreement. He remembered Mycroft’s reaction - a short startled pause and a raised eyebrow. 

 

“Is there anything you plan I should know about?” He had sounded vaguely amused.

 

“My, you come from a wealthy family. You own an old house in top condition in the middle of London and I don’t want to know what your paycheck looks like. I am a divorced copper scrapping by OK. The thought isn’t all that absurd.”

 

“Well, to me it is.”

 

And that had been that.

 

The British Government prepared for each and every possibility. He didn’t take risks. A prenup - while extremely unromantic - would have been the sensible thing. And Greg wouldn’t have minded at all. He didn’t plan on ever leaving and even if he did he wouldn’t care about the money or luxuries.

 

Mycroft’s dismissal of such paperwork was the undeniable evidence that he didn’t even entertain the possibility that anything but death would end their marriage.

 

Knowing Mycroft this meant that their relationship was destined to survive the Windsor monarchy.

  
It still had its ups and downs but neither of those were ever anything but phases that they weathered together.


	2. Mycroft needs a break

Of course Mycroft Holmes had the most unpredictable hours in his job. It was only to be expected. It wasn’t easy being the British Government, especially not if you were a compulsive control maniac and actually cared about the job being done well.

 

Greg understood that perfectly and he was more than intelligent enough to see when some international crisis was rearing its ugly head and Mycroft was one of the few people maybe capable of doing something about it.

 

But he had to draw the line somewhere.

 

Mycroft looked up in surprise when the door to his home study opened after a quick knock. His PA next to him stopped talking and held her mobile in a way that the entering Lestrade wouldn’t be able to see the screen. It was more of a reflex than anything, neither of them expected Gregory trying to spy on them.

 

Mycroft raised an eyebrow but his husband ignored him for the moment, focussing on his assistant.

 

“Anthea, I really don’t want to be impolite but could you please leave?”

 

Instead of ignoring him her eyes shot towards her boss and narrowed then she looked back at Lestrade. Without awaiting her boss’s OK she got up. “Of course, Inspector.” She turned towards Mycroft. “I’ll be in the office, keeping an eye on things until you’re finished here.”

 

Mycroft leaned back, eyeing Gregory critically. If Anthea decided he needed to take care of this first, he was inclined to listen. Her intuition in these things had been an invaluable asset over the years. He just wished that his overly emotional husband had chosen a better time to address whatever problem troubled him, he really couldn’t afford the distraction right now.

 

Only after the door had closed behind Anthea did Greg turn towards Mycroft.

 

“You need a break.” He didn’t believe in beating around the bush.

 

“I don’t think that that’s your call to make, Gregory.” His voice and expression clearly emanated his annoyance.

 

“Well, right now I don’t bloody care what you think because I highly doubt that your brain works all too reliable at the moment.”

 

The British Government blinked. If he were prone to outburst, he would have chosen that moment to shout at his husband, telling him loudly and clearly that he had gone too far. Instead his eyes narrowed and he turned his focus away from the man standing in front of him back to his laptop.

 

Now if the damn thing would stop going blurry in front of his eyes…

 

Gregory didn’t leave. He just stood there, his arms crossed watching him. Only when he closed his eyes to clear his vision, did his husband speak up.

 

“I think your body agrees with me, Mycroft.”

 

With a sigh the government official looked up. He wasn’t getting out of this without listening to Gregory speaking his mind.

 

“So? What do you need to tell me?”

 

“Besides the part where I told you that you need a break?”

 

“I can’t AFFORD a break, Gregory.” It wasn’t as if he wouldn’t prefer to take a couple of hours just for himself.

 

“You can’t afford NOT to take one, husband-mine.” Seeing that Mycroft was about to protest once more, Greg continued. “This has been going on for too long. How much sleep did you get each night on average over the last two weeks?”

 

Mycroft would have preferred not to answer that. He knew the numbers of course. “A little under five hours.” He stated quietly.

 

“And I highly doubt those were uninterrupted. I know you need less sleep than me but that’s unhealthy to say the least. It’s been five days since we exchanged more than a ‘Hello’ or ‘Good Night’ because you’re always on the go. And although I’m sure Anthea shoves some calories your way, you’ve lost enough weight for me to notice. I’ve seen you under bad circumstances and I know you had worse emotional stress. But your body has limits too and you’re ignoring them. Neither the country nor me want to see you giving yourself a heart attack.”

 

“I can assure you that my heart is in no immediate danger. But a huge number of lives are.”

 

“Don’t you think I know that, My? Why do you think I waited so long to say anything. I trust you not to act stupid without good reason.”

 

“I’m not acting stupid.”

 

“Yes, you are. We’ve passed that threshold a few days ago. You have various other people on the problem including Anthea. No one will push the red button because you close your eyes. And once you have rested at least a little bit, you will be able to function a lot better. As much as you hate to admit it, it’s a fact that your brain needs your body to work. And your body is about to fail you no matter how brilliant that mind of yours is under normal circumstances.”

 

“So what do you suggest?”

 

“Twelve hours - you tell Anthea that you won’t be available for twelve hours then you shut off your phone.”

 

“Twelve hours? That’s impossible I can’t…” Mycroft started to protest vehemently only to be interrupted by Gregory’s sharp insistence.

 

“Twelve hours, My - that IS the compromise. I think sixteen would be sensible, I’d prefer twenty-four. Knowing you I told you the minimum you can get away with.”

 

“What about Anthea? She needs rest as well and dropping this on her seems hardly appropriate.”

 

“I’m pretty sure you looked after her health a lot better than your own. And she’s far from stupid, she figured out what I came in to tell you in an instant. She left you at my mercy anyway. So I don’t think she’ll be surprised. So stop searching for excuses, right now the only thing stopping you from doing the sensible thing is your obsession with being in control.”

 

“Having the most qualified person in control IS the sensible thing.”

 

“You could also claim ‘I’m NOT obsessed’ and start pouting, that wouldn’t convince me either.”

 

Studying the absolute unmovable conviction in his husband’s face, holding his gaze steadily over crossed arms, Mycroft gave up. He passed his phone to Gregory.

 

“You wouldn’t trust me to do as I was told anyway.”

 

A small smile showed on Gregory’s lips. “Of course not, I’m not stupid - now get your ass under the shower.”

 

“The shower?”

 

“You might be dead on your feet, but you’re also bloody tense. It’ll probably take me about an hour to unwind you enough to get you to actually go to sleep. Shower’s the first step. And while you’re under there I can call Anthea and shut off this damn thing.”

 

“And then hide it?”

 

“Don’t be ridiculous. That would only be an incentive for you to search for it. Which would only take about two seconds anyway. Shower.”

 

Mycroft sighed and started his way to the bathroom. He was sure that once he made it from there to the bedroom he could expect a heavenly backrub and whatever else his husband had in mind to help him relax into sleep. Giving the phone and with it the reigns over to Gregory meant he didn’t have to worry about anything for a while. Maybe, sometimes giving up control - to the right person of course - wasn’t all that bad.


End file.
